BRIEF: Organizers cancel Freshman Block Party

Organizers canceled the Freshman Block Party for the second year in a row because of scheduling conflicts. The event, formally called Thurston Block Party, was scheduled for Sunday.

University officials would not allow the event because amplified sound from the party would disturb a show at Lisner, which is not soundproof, Thurston Residence Hall Association representative Josh Schimmerling said.

Organizers intended to close off H Street from the Marvin Center to Gelman Library, but were unable because the Lisner event requires access to the H Street loading dock, said Danielle Lico, GW senior associate event planner for the Marvin Center.

Lico said the freshman organizers did not give her enough notification by contacting her March 6.

Lico said GW was not responsible for canceling the event, and the planning committees still have other options. The freshmen can host the party on half of the street with no bands or DJs, or hold it on a different weekend, she said.

“I felt very confident it could have still gone well,” she said. “But there were some logistical barriers that occurred through no fault of anybody.”

Eric Daleo, vice president of the Thurston Hall Council, and Schimmerling said there are no other reasonable weekends to host the party. .

“It wouldn’t have been the block party everyone was expecting,” Schimmerling said. “We wanted to make it the best block party ever.”

Freshman coordinators said they did everything they could to make the event happen and blame GW for the cancellation.

“University administrators – through their oversight and negligence – have forced us to cancel the event,” Daleo wrote in an e-mail last Wednesday to Thurston residents. He said the GW event planners failed to check on Lisner’s schedule.

Some students said they are disappointed.

Junior Jennifer DeWolf said the campus needs community events like the block party.

“It’s hard to get into campus life, especially here,” she said. “After your second semester you start to see what’s going on. It’s just a great way to end the semester.”

Daleo said Thurston Hall will hold other community programming instead.

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